Resource centre for ZX Spectrum games
using Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy game engines
II. Jet Set Willy (JSW48)
C. Artistic modifications of the original Jet Set Willy
1. COPYCARD
Also known as: L1
Authors: Joan Heemskerk and Dirk Paesmans (JODI)
Year: 2003-2016
Language: English
COPYCARD is one of JODI's artistic Jet Set Willy Variations. It is based on the copy-protection card: a red, blue, green and magenta grid that shipped with every copy of the original game. The pattern provided access codes that were necessary to launch the game (the colours are mapped into numbers that can be entered on the keyboard).
The article Copy Protection in 'Jet Set Willy': developing methodology for retrogame archaeology, by John Aycock and Andrew Reinhard, provides comprehensive information about this particular copyright protection system.
At least three versions of COPYCARD can be found among the various editions of Jet Set Willy Variations available on the web. A SNA file bearing a time stamp of November 2010 and a TAP and a WAV file bearing a time stamp of July 2016 are hosted on JODI's website. They will be discussed henceforth as "the 2010 version", based on the assumption that the game was modified for the last time in 2010 and that the TAP and WAV versions were created in 2016 from the 2010 SNA file. A different SNA file, modified in 2004, can be retrieved from the older versions of JODI's download via the Wayback Machine. Finally, still another SNA file of the same project, dated March 2003 and called "L1", is hosted on Andrew Broad's archived website.
The differences between the 2003 and 2004 versions involve only the text on the title screen. The differences between the 2004 and 2010 versions include the text on the title screen and different Willy's sprite (at #9D00 - #9DFF) and flying pig's sprite (at #B600 - #B6FF): in the 2003 and 2004 versions Willy is a square; in the 2010 version he is himself again, although he is also displayed as a big white square against some of the backgrounds he traverses.
In further analysis, the title COPYCARD, spelled in all capital letters, will be used for all versions, corresponding to the current name and spelling on JODI's website.
COPYCARD is meant to be a work of art. It is playable, but apparently it was not its authors' intention that it should be played like a typical game, with the aim of actually completing it. The game is incompletable by design, because Maria (or rather, the blank sprite thereof) is in room 61, inaccessible in the game. The code which checks if Willy is in the Master Bedroom has been modified accordingly (a value of #3D at #9538 points to room 61 being the Master Bedroom). Consequently, even if all items were collected, it would not be possible to trigger the toilet run (an invisible, blank sprite of the toilet is in room 33). This means that the game is not toilet-, bed- or Maria-completable.
The items within the game, invisible as such (they do not flicker and look just like some of the other colour patterns) are grouped together in groups of 16, in 15 rooms (in one of the rooms there are two groups of items). The game is not item-completable, as it is not possible either to reach the 16 items located in the room "A4 a Software Protection scheme" (01) or to collect the 6 uppermost items in "E4 This card is needed" (06) (incidentally, the player will be trapped after collecting the other 10 items in that room). Consequently, a total of 234 items out of 256 can be collected.
A comment on the web states that "trying to navigate the white square that represents Willy through the coloured blocks of the copy-protection screen is nearly impossible". This is true to a large extent, because it is hard to tell, upon entering a "room", which of its elements are Earth, Water or Air (their colours differ from screen to screen). There are also some "illogical" exits in the game (you enter room A from room B, but when you exit room A in the direction you just came from, you find yourself in room C), which complicate the navigation.
There are no lethal guardians in the game. There are 8 guardians in each room, but their sprites are blank and these guardians are only used to add more colour patterns to the rooms.
Number of edited rooms: 61
Number of rooms accessible without cheating: 61
Number of items to collect: 256
Bugfix needed after original release? N/A
(The game is apparently not meant to be completable.)
Spare lives at the start: 7
(There are no guardians and no Fire cells in the game, and Willy can fall safely from heights. Therefore, there seems to be no way in which he could actually lose a life. He can only get stuck/trapped in some places, in which case the game would need to be reset.)
Completable? NO
(The game is not toilet-, bed-, Maria- or item-completable.)
Starting time: 7:00 am
Best documented completion time: N/A
(The game is not completable. The best documented collection time of 234 items is 7:25 am.)
Download links
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Jet Set Willy Variations on JODI's website |
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Current ZIP package on JODI's website |
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Game files of all known variants of the game in various formats |
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RZX walkthrough of the 2010 version of the game showing the collection of 234 items |
Screenshot gallery |
The title screen in the 2003 version:
The title screen in the 2004 version:
The title screen in the 2010 version:
The rooms in the 2010 version (the 2003 and 2004 versions are not different visually apart from Willy's sprite):
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